IBM Breastfeeding Iniative

Congratulations IBM

IBM is certainly looking to the future with this initiative. It is refreshing to see a company such as this reading the signals and implementing strategies that benefit their employees.

Initiatives such as this bring benefits

To the uninitiated the logistics of breastfeeding when travelling may seem a minor concern.

But hey think this one through….if alternate arrangements cant be found then the breastfeeding working mother whose job description involves travel has no choice but to leave the workforce.

IBM with this initiative is creating a win win for all..IE they get to retain their employee during the breastfeeding phase and the employee retains their job. Read on

Lactating is natural. But that doesn’t mean it’s easy—especially for working moms on the go.

In an effort to alleviate some of the logistical complications (and help attract and retain female employees), IBM will soon launch a service that allows working mothers to easily ship expressed breast milk back home to their babies while traveling on business.

The idea seems simple enough—shipping milk in temperature-controlled packages isn’t exactly ground-breaking for a company that invented a cognitive computing system that beats humans at Jeopardy, helps diagnose cancers, and has even written a cookbook—but IBM IBM says it hasn’t heard of any other employers offering this kind of service to their workers.

“We are going to experiment with this and see how many women are interested,” says Barbara Brickmeier, vice president of benefits at IBM.”
A cursory glance at any tech company’s diversity report paints an abysmal picture on both racial and gender diversity.

According to IBM, women currently make up 29% of its total workforce and 25% of management worldwide. But IBM also says that, since 1995, the number of women executives at the company has increased 562%. Its CEO, Ginni Rometty, is one of just 24 female chief executives of Fortune 500 companies. And while she is still grappling with reinventing the 104-year-old company, this new effort to make it a friendlier place for working moms could have an immediate impact—at least for whatever percentage of women at IBM have had to pump and dump. Like many perks, it’s a small and relatively inexpensive gesture that could go a long way for the people it serves.Please see full article here